Mackay on why Hibs sporting director was 'the perfect role'

He watched tens of thousands of fans launch straight into a stirring Sunshine on Leith rendition moments afterwards, and it still serves as the most striking reminder of the potential within Hibernian Football Club.

“I was invited to Hampden as a guest the day they played the 2016 Scottish Cup final," says the new sporting director. "And it’s funny because there’s a two-minute video that the club have got, and when David Gray is up lifting the cup and the camera pans up, I’m actually about 10 rows behind him filming it. I was just there randomly as a guest, but standing listening to 30,000 people singing Sunshine on Leith puts the hairs on the back of your neck. I also see the pictures of 200,000 people in Princes Street with the bus, and it is pretty incredible. The potential here is incredible."

READ MORE: Why Hibs' Ekpiteta feels career is on an 'upward trajectory'

Mackay knows it hasn't stirred for a few years, and that it's his job to bring it to life once more. Putting Gray front and centre in the dugout was step one, and next is supplying him with the tools to build a team worth watching. Mackay's last role was in plain old management at Ross County, but having worked as performance director at the Scottish FA, he grew to enjoy the responsibility of helping build an entire project, almost from scratch. Hibs aren't quite reconvening at rock bottom - although it often felt like it last season - but there's no doubt there is considerable work to be done to restore the club to where it wants to be. Fans have been highly critical of the people in power, but Mackay insists he instantly detected a desperate will within owners the Gordon family to do right by Hibs, and late chairman Ron Gordon. Mackay feels he can be the man to help pull it all together.

“Very much so," says Mackay when asked if he felt this job was 'perfect' for him. "I really enjoyed the role at the Scottish FA – helping build the association and the performance department. It was something Roy asked me to help with at Ross County and I probably wouldn’t have stepped back into again if there wasn’t that involvement. I was proud to be the manager of Ross County but, at the same time, I like to have that ability to go in and help build a football club.

“When this came about, I had a long conversation – about nine and a half hours of talks in seven days, but it was done very quickly and efficiently – with Ben Kensell where he explained what the club were looking for. I thought about it for a few days, met him for two hours and he opened up on the role. We had a three hour Zoom with himself and Ian Gordon, then another with the Black Knights Group.

“Off the back of that, Kit Gordon flew in from Washington and I had two hours with her and my family. I had a really good feeling about the people that were behind this football club, the caring nature of what they’re desperate to do well. The Gordon family are desperate for this club to do well in Ron’s legacy, and there’s a real passion for it, but also an intelligence and willingness for the club to do well. When I see the infrastructure, the stadium is terrific.

“I know the club so well, a lot of the youngsters came through my Scotland squads. Half the staff were hired to go away with the Scottish FA teams. I’ve played against the club probably 10-12 times in the last three years, I’ve analysed the squad with my opposition analysts. We’ve been beaten, beaten or drawn over the last three years.

“I hadn’t been at the training ground for a number of years, so it was nice to get up and have a look at it. It’s another training ground that, while needing a lick of paint, is as good as anything in Scotland. And it’s a team that, as we know, have underachieved – they’re in the bottom half of the league when they shouldn’t be. It’s a club that is crying out for success."

Entrusting Gray to deliver that success in his first management role has been looked upon as a gamble, but his status as one of Hibs' most revered figures means he's not just any old rookie, and Mackay exclusively told Hibs Observer  earlier this month that the 36-year-old had 'absolutely nailed' the interview process. Gray's first press conference on Friday left supporters feeling impressed, and tentatively optimistic, with how the new head coach spoke and handled himself. There was particular approval of Gray's insistence that adaptability - and not unwavering persistence with 'philosophy' - will be a key focus of his management, and it's something that was widely agreed as being missing under Nick Montgomery.

“For me, what makes real management is when in the game something has gone wrong and they’ve changed something, you need to be able to change something and affect the result," says Mackay. “That’s what good managers do more than someone who says they’re going to play one way come hell or high water. Invariably, that doesn’t bring success. or me, there’s an arrogance to that and says you’re not respecting the guy in the opposition dug-out. They’ve done their work on you and if they do the opposite of you, they find weaknesses and you won’t change, you’re going to get beat.

READ MORE: David Gray on the emotional moment Hibs offered him the job

“That’s something I’ve spoken a lot to David on. I saw it in his game against Motherwell a few weeks ago when with 10 or 15 minutes to go they were 3-0 up. Motherwell threw caution to the wind to try and get back into the game. What David did was to stick on Jordan Obita in front of Lewis Stevenson. It was like having two left backs. All of a sudden, Stephen O’Donnell stopped being able to come up the left-hand side, the game petered out and we won the game. That’s management and something I feel is important.

We also need leadership at the club, we need more leadership on the field. At the back end of games, we need more people on the pitch with knowledge of how to see a game out. If you look at last year, we lost 20-odd games in the last 15 minutes of games from a position of strength. If you win half of those points by just seeing game out, then you end up fourth. That’s something we have to look at in terms of having experience and leadership on the pitch."